She's Got the Urge for Staying: The Outer Banks

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Buxton, North Carolina

September 27-30

The barrier islands of the Atlantic coast have always captivated me. There is something about their stubborn wildness in the face of civilization, contrasted with their vulnerability at the front lines for all the drama the great Atlantic storms can hurl at the east. I feel an affinity to them. So I am eager to turn once again eastward at Kitty Hawk after dipping briefly inland past Richmond on my way south. 

Map of the Outer Banks---lighthouses mark the way.

There is a noticeable nod to the tropics as we move further south---it is warmer, the air is drowsy with moisture and the mosquitoes are more abundant. The shells on the beach remind me of the treasures beachcombed from family trips to Florida before my birth---the arks, coquinas, scotch bonnets and the whelks---that lined the shelves of my bedroom as a child.

The breath of the tropics

The sinistral (left turning spiral) lightening whelk, Busycon contrarium

My first stop is a single night at Oregon Inlet, an inlet that was named, not for the state, but the sailing ship that witnessed its formation (separating a single island into two) during a violent storm in 1846. The storm that hit while I was at Assateague lingers, but only threatens rain. As I arrive the state campground is abuzz with stories of the storm and assurances that the worst has passed. Tomorrow promises to be a beautiful day to visit the lighthouses of the Outer Banks as I travel even farther south.

Though the skies are dark and stormy, the air is warm, heavy
and fragrant

The eastern counterpart of my friends the brown pelicans

Sure enough, we awaken to blues skies and gentle winds the next morning. I can see the top of the Bodie Island Lighthouse just north of us from our camp. Built in 1872, it stands 170 feet tall and is now fully automated, as many lighthouses are. The key to keeping the black and white lighthouses straight, it to take note of the direction of the stripes in their "daymark". The markings are designed to allow mariners to recognize the lighthouses, and thus their location, during the day. At night, each light house has a distinctive light pattern for nighttime recognition

Bodie Island Lighthouse---horizontal daymark.

A drive down the narrow strip of highway separating the Atlantic Ocean from Pamlico Sound leapfrogs from Pea Island to Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks elbow of Cape Hatteras. At 193 feet, the all brick Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is an awe inspiring sight. It was built in 1870 and protects an area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" where a collision between the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Labrador Current pushes unwary ships aground.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, sinistral spiral daymark

The tallest brick lighthouse in the US tempts visitors with the opportunity to hike its 269 spiraling steps to the top for the best possible view of the Cape. Harry, while allowed to enjoy the lawn at the base of the lighthouse, is relegated to Pagoo during the ascent. Shame. He would have LOVED the stairs.

The spiral is echoed by the internal staircase (3 spirals in one blog!)

The ranger snaps my pic at the top, with Cape Hatteras in the background.
I really gave up on my hair and fashion style on this trip...

It's a long way down

I share the ledge at the top with two couples, both of which have one acrophobic partner prodded to make the climb by their mate. One has lost all fear at the sight of the view and dashes from side to side taking photographs. The other clings to the wall like a limpet. As I return to ground level and tour the historic outbuildings, I muse that I would have made a superb lighthouse keeper, hermit that I am, and would have made a fine lighthouse ghost as well, for they are all haunted here. The next lighthouse, and our campsite for the next 2 nights, is a ferry ride away. The ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke (like the vegetable and the soda) Island has recently been rerouted from a 40 minute straight shot, to a circuitous, nearly 2 hour ride that circumvents the shifting sandy shoals of the Sound. I don't mind the extra time on the water.

Cost of ferry ride from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke Island: $0.

Ocracoke was chosen as a destination a bit blindly. After ending up in an RV parking lot in Ohio, I have become very wary of campgrounds catering to RVs, and the Outer Banks is every bit the "house on wheels" camping destination. After considerable research, I decided to take the state or national campground route, and this is a trend that stayed strong throughout the trip---they consistently offered clean toilets and showers, well-marked campsites with tables and fire pits, the best camping rates, and the highest ratio of minimalist campers to giant RV traveling road shows. When it comes to paying for camp sites, I found my enjoyment of a site to be inversely proportional to its fee. High fees tended to be strongly correlated with "amenities" that I felt unnecessary and even bothersome. A few of my favorite sites on this trip were absolutely free. And so I crossed the Hatteras Inlet to Ocracoke Island, the most remote spot in the Outer Banks, a ferry ride away from everywhere else in the world.

Juvenile white ibises will molt at maturity and become pure white

Arriving at the Ocracoke NPS Campground on a Sunday, we have our pick of campsites, and find a private spot near the dunes with a set of living ibis lawn ornaments to guide us in. Ocracoke romances me early with endless beaches, sea turtle nests, Gulf Stream warmed waters, birds and butterflies to appeal to my naturalist side and antique stores, fresh seafood and pirate lore for my more cultural tastes.

The town of Ocracoke from the water, ocracokeislandrealty.com

The town itself is incredibly charming and, much to my great joy, was home to the Ocracoke Coffee Co., which had excellent coffee and homemade baked goods and sandwiches (not to mention WiFi). Typically, I am suspicious of Mexican food when away from the west, but Eduardo's Taco Stand had a great rating on Yelp and an encouraging long line out front. So it was that I had the best food to date on my road trip from a taco truck on a remote barrier island: a cheesy crab taco with big succulent chunks of seasoned blue crab on a double tortilla layer with jack cheese, all topped with fresh tomato, lettuce and improbably perfect avocado. If there had been a Margarita on the menu, I'd have blissed out. It may have been after finishing this taco that I first picked up the want ads to peruse the job listings. Or maybe it was after checking out the real estate...

Yes, please.

Or visiting the pirate museum...

 

Blackbeard is Ocracoke's most famous celebrity

The Outer Banks has a rich and colorful history, with every historic building having either a pirate, Civil War, Revolutionary War or pilgrim ghost story to go with it. Arguably the most infamous of pirates, Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, frequented Pamlico Sound and was killed at Ocracoke Island in 1718 at the age of 38. For a scientist reasonably well-grounded by skepticism, I am enamored with ghost stories. While I couldn't pass the red-face test if I said I believe in ghosts, I do believe in the energy of places and if I can attach a human story to that and scare myself a little in the process, I consider myself well served.

But nature is always my first love, and a trail near my campground offers a tour of  marsh and pine barrens. Mosquitoes are our hosts, but other invertebrates are more charming denizens. I chased through the dunes in pursuit of the giant, brilliant orange gulf fritillary butterflies, who were pausing their migration to nectar on late-blooming dune wildflowers, but was not to catch up to one with my camera until Carolina Beach and the next blog.

Huge, black and yellow Argiope aurantia waits for prey at web center

Crabs are always favorites of mine---they seem to have an attitude that is entirely unrelated to their size. The trail was home to many of these little fiddler crabs who seemed to dare me to mess with them.

Fiddler crab flushed by Harry. 

There were no jobs for me on Ocracoke. I had a long conversation about life on the island with the fellow selling tickets for my 4 hour departing ferry trip to South Carolina. I asked what locals did to support themselves in the off-season. "Drugs and unemployment," he said with a wry smile. Well, at least half of that equation is right up my alley these days.

The marsh on Palmico Sound. Perhaps, 300 years ago one might
have seen Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge from this spot
and been afraid.